In recent years, vehicles equipped with a power storage device (e.g., a secondary battery or a capacitor or the like) that run using driving force generated from power stored in the power storage device are receiving a lot of attention as environmentally friendly vehicles. Some examples of such vehicles include electric vehicles, hybrid vehicles, and fuel cell vehicles and the like. Also, technology for charging the power storage device on board these vehicles using a commercial power supply with high power generating efficiency has been proposed.
Among hybrid vehicles as well, a vehicle in which an onboard power storage device is able to be charged from a power supply outside the vehicle (hereinafter, also simply referred to as an “external power supply”) (hereinafter, also simply referred to as “external charging”), similar to an electric vehicle, is known. For example, a so-called “plug-in hybrid vehicle” in which the power storage device is able to be charged from a typical household power supply by connecting an outlet provided in a house to a charging port provided in the vehicle, is known. Consequently, an increase in fuel consumption efficiency of the hybrid vehicle is able to be expected.
In a vehicle in which such external charging is possible, the concept of thinking of the vehicle as a power supply and supplying power from the vehicle to a typical electrical device outside the vehicle, as can be seen in a smart grid and the like, is being considered. Also, there is also a case in which a vehicle is used as a power supply when using an electrical device for outdoor work or when camping.
Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2010-35277 (Patent Document 1) describes a charging/discharging system that, in a vehicle in which a battery mounted in the vehicle is able to be charged using a charging cable, is able to supply power from the vehicle to an electrical load using a dedicated power-supplying power cable that differs from the charging cable and that can be connected to a power plug of an electrical load outside the vehicle.